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The Airborne Covid Threat Is Confirmed. What to Do About It?
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Michael Ejercito
May 24, 2021, 9:17:35 AM5/24/21
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https://archive.vn/LRwYK
The Airborne Covid Threat Is Confirmed. What to Do About It?
It’s not too late for a simple, effective public health message.
By Faye Flam
May 22, 2021, 12:00 PM UTC
Maybe this was dumb.
Maybe this was dumb. Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and host of the podcast
"Follow the Science." She has written for the Economist, the New York
Times, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Science and other
publications.
Read more opinion
Follow @fayeflam on Twitter
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You know something is wrong with the public health messaging in the U.S.
when a tow truck driver is giving out better information on Covid-19
transmission than the WHO or CDC. His words of wisdom to me, when he
came to tow my car back to the dealer earlier this spring, was that if
you’re indoors with people and one of them is infected, you can still
get infected even if everyone is wearing a mask. And if you’re outdoors
and someone is infected, you’re probably not going to get it.
He was speaking from direct experience, having done essential work
through the worst of the pandemic. He said he’d seen co-workers get sick
and that his boss had died.
And he was right. The SARS-CoV2 virus can travel on very small particles
that disperse quickly outdoors but can build up inside. Indoors, these
particles can affect people who stay more than six feet away. And the
hodgepodge of masks Americans have adopted may provide some protection,
but they don’t render an unsafe situation safe.
Though scientists have been discussing airborne transmission for months,
it was only this week that the WHO and CDC made this official. With the
vaccine rollout still in its early days globally, those officials should
follow up this belated admission with guidance unvaccinated people can
use to minimize their risk.
More from
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Clarifying the word “airborne” would be a good place to start. The
scientific meaning isn’t the same as its common meaning, and so people
may wrongly assume that outdoor air is dangerous. As a recent article in
the New York Times reported, news about the concept of airborne
transmission was compelling people in India to close their windows
rather than open them.
Indeed, reports on airborne transmission can be unnecessarily
panic-inducing, implying that risk is nearly unavoidable, and that
there’s no safe distance from our fellow humans.
It’s true that the virus can build up in indoor environments in a way
that can still pose a risk even if people wear masks and stay more than
six feet apart. But that risk can be mitigated by opening windows and
wearing N95 masks, and by keeping exposure short. A quick trip to the
supermarket is going to be safer than a long meal in a restaurant or an
exercise class. And because the virus is primarily traveling on smaller
particles, the risk is tiny outdoors, even if someone passes within six
feet.
Indoor restaurants, therefore, are not rendered safe by rules that
dictate people put on a mask when they’re not eating, or by most of the
plexiglass dividers between tables. Opening windows does help, as would
offering a warning that unvaccinated people are taking risks by dining
inside.
This has long been known — though officials were slow to admit it. Last
May, I interviewed Muge Cevik, an infectious disease specialist at the
University of St. Andrews in the U.K. She had been collecting all the
data she could find from contact tracing around the world to see how the
disease was actually being transmitted. There were reports that
so-called superspreading events had happened primarily in offices, at
business conferences, in retail stores where people lingered, and indoor
restaurants. Beyond superspreading, there was lots of transmission in homes.
She found that the amount of time people spent in a closed environment
matters. And the greater the number of people in an enclosed space, the
higher the odds that one of them is contagious.
That’s why in Japan, people have long been warned to avoid the three Cs
— crowds, closed spaces and close contact. Useful public health messages
don’t need to be complicated.
It’s not too late to do a better job on public health messaging and
prioritizing. In countries where people are returning to offices and
other workspaces, ventilation should be a higher priority than
sanitizing surfaces. In India, where the pandemic is raging, officials
should stop wasting resources on drones spraying disinfectant on parks.
Opinion. Data. More Data.
Get the most important Bloomberg Opinion pieces in one email.
Email
Enter your email
Sign Up
By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of
Service and to receive offers and promotions from Bloomberg.
Here in America, we’ve worried too much about 15-minute grocery store
trips and have taken false comfort in a six-foot distance. We have spent
far too much mental energy enraged at each other for going unmasked to
the beach, or taking masks off in a parking lot — assigning other
people’s behavior an outsized role in our own risk. A better
understanding of what airborne transmission really means can help us
better manage our own risks and preserve our ability feel good about our
fellow human beings. And, of course, should motivate more of us to get
the vaccine.
The Airborne Covid Threat Is Confirmed. What to Do About It?
It’s not too late for a simple, effective public health message.
By Faye Flam
May 22, 2021, 12:00 PM UTC
Maybe this was dumb.
Maybe this was dumb. Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and host of the podcast
"Follow the Science." She has written for the Economist, the New York
Times, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Science and other
publications.
Read more opinion
Follow @fayeflam on Twitter
COMMENTS
LISTEN TO ARTICLE
4:06
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share
Tweet
Post
You know something is wrong with the public health messaging in the U.S.
when a tow truck driver is giving out better information on Covid-19
transmission than the WHO or CDC. His words of wisdom to me, when he
came to tow my car back to the dealer earlier this spring, was that if
you’re indoors with people and one of them is infected, you can still
get infected even if everyone is wearing a mask. And if you’re outdoors
and someone is infected, you’re probably not going to get it.
He was speaking from direct experience, having done essential work
through the worst of the pandemic. He said he’d seen co-workers get sick
and that his boss had died.
And he was right. The SARS-CoV2 virus can travel on very small particles
that disperse quickly outdoors but can build up inside. Indoors, these
particles can affect people who stay more than six feet away. And the
hodgepodge of masks Americans have adopted may provide some protection,
but they don’t render an unsafe situation safe.
Though scientists have been discussing airborne transmission for months,
it was only this week that the WHO and CDC made this official. With the
vaccine rollout still in its early days globally, those officials should
follow up this belated admission with guidance unvaccinated people can
use to minimize their risk.
More from
Belarus Throws Down The Gauntlet To The West
How to Combat Money Laundering in Europe
Here's How Brits Can Visit Spain, Italy and Greece This Summer
Soccer Fans Show Private Equity the Red Card
Clarifying the word “airborne” would be a good place to start. The
scientific meaning isn’t the same as its common meaning, and so people
may wrongly assume that outdoor air is dangerous. As a recent article in
the New York Times reported, news about the concept of airborne
transmission was compelling people in India to close their windows
rather than open them.
Indeed, reports on airborne transmission can be unnecessarily
panic-inducing, implying that risk is nearly unavoidable, and that
there’s no safe distance from our fellow humans.
It’s true that the virus can build up in indoor environments in a way
that can still pose a risk even if people wear masks and stay more than
six feet apart. But that risk can be mitigated by opening windows and
wearing N95 masks, and by keeping exposure short. A quick trip to the
supermarket is going to be safer than a long meal in a restaurant or an
exercise class. And because the virus is primarily traveling on smaller
particles, the risk is tiny outdoors, even if someone passes within six
feet.
Indoor restaurants, therefore, are not rendered safe by rules that
dictate people put on a mask when they’re not eating, or by most of the
plexiglass dividers between tables. Opening windows does help, as would
offering a warning that unvaccinated people are taking risks by dining
inside.
This has long been known — though officials were slow to admit it. Last
May, I interviewed Muge Cevik, an infectious disease specialist at the
University of St. Andrews in the U.K. She had been collecting all the
data she could find from contact tracing around the world to see how the
disease was actually being transmitted. There were reports that
so-called superspreading events had happened primarily in offices, at
business conferences, in retail stores where people lingered, and indoor
restaurants. Beyond superspreading, there was lots of transmission in homes.
She found that the amount of time people spent in a closed environment
matters. And the greater the number of people in an enclosed space, the
higher the odds that one of them is contagious.
That’s why in Japan, people have long been warned to avoid the three Cs
— crowds, closed spaces and close contact. Useful public health messages
don’t need to be complicated.
It’s not too late to do a better job on public health messaging and
prioritizing. In countries where people are returning to offices and
other workspaces, ventilation should be a higher priority than
sanitizing surfaces. In India, where the pandemic is raging, officials
should stop wasting resources on drones spraying disinfectant on parks.
Opinion. Data. More Data.
Get the most important Bloomberg Opinion pieces in one email.
Enter your email
Sign Up
By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of
Service and to receive offers and promotions from Bloomberg.
Here in America, we’ve worried too much about 15-minute grocery store
trips and have taken false comfort in a six-foot distance. We have spent
far too much mental energy enraged at each other for going unmasked to
the beach, or taking masks off in a parking lot — assigning other
people’s behavior an outsized role in our own risk. A better
understanding of what airborne transmission really means can help us
better manage our own risks and preserve our ability feel good about our
fellow human beings. And, of course, should motivate more of us to get
the vaccine.
HeartDoc Andrew
May 24, 2021, 9:26:30 AM5/24/21
to
places is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding
out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who among us
are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in
order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12) for them to
call their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of
stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while
preparing for the worse-case scenario of the B.1.1.7 lineage mutations
and others like the P.1, B.1.135, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.525, &
B.1.617.1-3 lineage mutations combining to render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
--
Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Cardiologist with an http://bit.ly/EternalMedicalLicense
2016 & upwards non-partisan candidate for U.S. President:
http://bit.ly/WonderfullyHungryPresident
and author of the 2PD-OMER Approach:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewCare
which is the only **healthy** cure for the U.S. healthcare crisis
Michael Ejercito
May 24, 2021, 9:41:07 AM5/24/21
to
Michael
HeartDoc Andrew
May 24, 2021, 9:54:23 AM5/24/21
to
MichaelE wrote:
> I am wonderfully hungry!
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
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